


Gold, White and Red

by orphan_account



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Post-Canon, domestic life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:07:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24254851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There were parties every night for a week, Bright Moon to the Fright Zone was lit up dusk till dawn with music and food spilling into the streets. Glimmer had fussed over logistics at first, worrying that the tail end of a rebellion wasn’t really the time for excess until someone had informed them that every crop had sprouted all at once, everywhere.---They build a magic house together.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 407





	Gold, White and Red

Life got better after the war, miraculously.

There were parties every night for a week, Bright Moon to the Fright Zone was lit up dusk till dawn with music and food spilling into the streets. Glimmer had fussed over logistics at first, worrying that the tail end of a rebellion wasn’t really the time for excess until someone had informed them that every crop had sprouted all at once, everywhere.

Lush, wavy fields of wheat and corn. Rows upon rows of carrots and cauliflower, bursting from the ground and spilling over each other. Whole orchards of peaches and pears ripe and bursting. If Adora hadn’t seen it firsthand she would have hardly believed it.

They’d been plucked, baked, sautéed, and then it only made sense that dishes full of food were laid out for everyone to share.

It had been fun, and loud. Bow told Adora that a road between two villages, normally a few hours walk to cross, had been lined with instruments and people for days. 

Once the festivals died down the exploration started to begin. Caves that had never held anything other than damp and cold now glittered with green, delicate crystals that made your teeth itch. Some streams started running upriver, with one notable reverse waterfall that had everyone gathered around it for days. Boars the size of houses loped sleepily across the plains, sprigs of fungi bursting from their footprints.

It made sense that wonders unseen needed to be _seen_ , so that’s what they set themselves out to do.

Bow and Glimmer would run off to see the scarecrows that had sprung to life overnight, then Catra and Adora would follow up on the beach that was building sandcastles by itself. 

And time and time again, the new world was beautiful and good. The planet seemed to love them, unravelling new little secrets for them like it was trying to impress, glutting itself on their joy. Food was never scarce, water flowed healthy and clean, life flourished. Every town they passed seemed to be delighted with their newfound wealth, and life eased into a kind of lazy peace.

Glimmer looked five years younger whenever Adora saw her. Once, when they were on the back of a wagon, tugged along by a tree that had helpfully popped up and offered them a hand when their load was too heavy for the horse, Glimmer tucked her head into Adora’s neck and sighed.

“I’m so happy, Adora,” She murmured, and Adora could hear the lump in her throat, “I’m so happy for everyone.” 

Adora had kissed her forehead and agreed, eyeing the stars dancing overhead.

\---

Catra unravelled as the months passed on, her soppy-sweet smile was more freely given and she tucked herself into the space at Adora’s side whenever she could.

Everyone was surprised, Catra more than anyone, when she _took_ to this new kind of adventuring they were embarking on. She found strange nests tucked behind logs, and was always the first to spot odd creatures moving through trees like ghosts. They’d head out for scouting missions every few months, bringing home amazing treasures to Bright Moon whenever they returned.

Catra loved magic, and magic _loved_ Catra. Once, when the caravan moved its way down a glassy pink road, Catra had reached out for a heavy blue pear and suddenly every tree seemed to sway over to offer her its fruit. She had grinned, and only half ignored the jeers and catcalls of her friends as she bit in with relish.

If Catra had ever felt unwanted before, the planet seemed now to be trying very hard to make it up to her now.

Adora watched her, constantly, and grinned at her little games and innocent joy and the way she melted into their squad like she knew the space belonged to her. 

And every night they would push their bedrolls together and reach across to hold hands.

“I love you.” Adora would always whisper.

“I love you too.” Catra would whisper back, grinning.

And then Catra would close her eyes and go to sleep, and Adora would guiltily push back the stab of disappointment and sleep too.

\---

Glimmer and Bow had left one morning to check on a small town called Cantervale, with promises to meet back by the end of the month in the same spot. They were going to look into the stories of a pond that, when drunk from, left the drinker able to jump the height of a small tree for hours. Catra and Adora hugged them goodbye and cleaned up camp, continuing down the road with the wagon and horses.

They found the villa by the evening.

Catra had spotted it glittering beyond a thicket of trees, and when they left the road to investigate they saw the grotto.

It was an ancient, crumbling thing with half a roof and some very sad looking pillars. What had once been a shallow series of pools in a courtyard were dried out and empty, cracked and falling away at the edges. The marblesque lining around the outside had chipped away in places to reveal a porous granite, etched with dormant runes in a very familiar language.

“It’s a First One’s ruin.” Adora breathed, and they both scooted their way across the courtyard to the entrance.

“What was this place supposed to be?” Catra asked, gazing with wonder up at the high ceiling of the front door. 

“A house? I don’t really know.” Except she did, and for the first time in a year Adora felt a very familiar sense of unease wash over her.

Catra didn’t seem to notice, tracing a nail across the etched pillar lining the door. Melog weaved through her legs, apparently not feeling whatever Adora was.

“Is it dangerous?”

Adora was quiet, gut turning over slightly.

“I don’t think so.” She said, eyes locked on Catras nails as they followed the carved lines of a horse.

“Then let's go inside.” As soon as the words were out, the doors creaked open sluggishly. 

Catra raised an eyebrow, but didn’t seem phased. Adora supposed a year of the planet treating her like its favorite child lowered the bar of serendipity for her.

Adora followed her inside, and gasped a little when she saw the room. It was big; wider and longer than it looked from the front and completely empty. The walls were carved like outside, but here the patterns were minimalist and geometric. It looked like a great big empty stone box. She watched Catra jog to the middle of the room and twirl, keeping an eye out for tech.

It didn’t seem like there was anything, and Catra stuck out her lip in a pout. Adora’s sense of unease grew, like the tension of a storm on a hot day. She watched Catra closely, though out of a desire to make sure she was safe or something else, she wasn’t sure.

“Well this is boring. What the hell is this place even for? Storage?” Catra wondered aloud, twirling again. She stopped halfway through and squinted at the wall close to her.

Adora followed her slowly, suddenly feeling queasy and in need of a shower. 

Catra had spotted a raised hexagonal panel on the wall and eyed it dubiously.

“That wasn’t there before.” She muttered, and gestured for Adora to come closer, “Can you read this? There’s something here.”

Adora looked over her shoulder.

“ _For the Mistress of the Villa, I provide”_ She translated with a squint.

“Huh.” Catra said rubbing her chin, “Who’s the mistress? This thing’s been out here for a while.” 

Then Melog gently pushed past the both of them, and nudged the panel with their forehead.

It slid seamlessly back into the wall, and a faint, friendly hum vibrated through the room. When they all turned back around, several mushy looking blobs had manifested into what one might charitably call a living room.

“Huh.” Catra said, tilting her head.

The blobs were comfortable, if a bit sad. They all sat awkwardly looking at each other for a bit, until Catra seemed to relax an inch and lean back into hers. Adora felt a surge of magical satisfaction and whipped her head around.

“What’s wrong?” Catra asked, eyeing her warily.

“Dunno,” Adora replied, rolling her shoulders. The hole in the ceiling was letting in the last of the setting sunlight and a pleasant warm breeze. Catra’s eyes looked suspiciously heavy as she gazed around the empty space, and Adora grabbed their bedrolls from the wagon outside, tethering the horses nearby after she nodded off.

When Adora got back Catra was asleep, curled around Melog and she nudged her obliging blob over next to where they were sleeping. Tucking them all into a mass of blankets, Adora slipped her hand into Catra’s and fell asleep.

\---

It turned out the villa took to Catra the same way everything did these days. When she loudly complained about the lack of indoor plumbing, the next time they turned around there was a small, mercantile little bathroom tucked into a corner. Tapestries started to unfurl from nowhere, fluffing themselves out proudly when Catra walked by. The next time Adora left to check on the horses, the courtyard out front seemed to be gradually piecing itself back together, with one shallow pool making a bit of a pathetic attempt to fill up with water.

Adora eyed the grey stillwater dubiously and raised an eyebrow.

“Gonna need to do a bit better than that if you want to impress her.” She wondered aloud, and then spluttered when it spat some of the muck into her face.

 _‘Mistress of the Villa’_ didn’t remain a mystery for very long. She’d eyed the tapestries and insignia that was beginning to adorn everything from cups to the bars of soap.

“It’s Mara’s.” Adora had told Catra one night, nursing a goblet of sweet wine and feet tucked under Catra’s thighs, “it’s her house.”

“What, she lived here?” Catra said, lazing against a chaise lounge with a throw rug inching hopefully over her shoulder. 

Adora shrugged and gestured to the room.

“I mean, like, it’s her house. The symbols and colors and stuff, it belonged to her clan or something.”

“How do you know?” Catra asked.

Adora shrugged again, helpless.

“Just do.” She said.

Catra hummed and rested a cheek against a very endeared looking blanked.

“Aren’t these your colours too? Like the gold and white and stuff; that’s a She-ra thing, right?”

“I guess so.” Adora said, drinking some more wine and ignoring the familiar creeping feeling in her gut.

\---

The house had been making slow progress, but held a certain enthusiasm when it listened to Catra’s requests. When she grimaced at the dusty floors they were wiped clean the next time Adora looked. When she bemoaned a proper pantry for storing perishables, a little kitchen slotted itself between the bathroom and the front door. 

Catra had looked pleased, and the two of them spent that afternoon wiping down the benches and shelves. They threw out fossilized old fruits and washed linen in the bathtub, which ended up only slightly less grey but still usable. When they woke up the next day and went to go finish their work, the whole room was glittering and spotless. 

Plumbing that had once looked ancient gleamed over a porcelain basin, the cabinets looked like they had been lacquered and the rags they’d slung over a hook were now pristine, laying folded and pressed on the counter.

Adora had felt a swell of affection so unexpectedly huge she had a lump in her throat and her eyes got wet. Catra must have noticed because she wrapped an arm around Adora’s middle and said nothing.

\---

They ate fruit from the tree hovering over the house that always seemed to bear something new every day. When Catra wondered aloud what they were going to do about protein, a portion of wall next to the front door slid away with an air of glee, offering up a glittering armory that was more decorative and shiny than anything Adora had ever seen.

They’d whooped and made a run for it, shoving each other and racing over the now-glossy tiles, hollering with laughter. 

There were a matching set of crossbows, polished white with a shimmering blue drawstring that hissed into place without much of a fight. The quivers were also a matching set, slung over the shoulder and connecting to a slip of white fabric that flowed behind the two of them as they walked in a distinctly symmetrical way.

There was something deeply satisfying about seeing that quiver fit seamlessly over Catra’s collarbone, watching her flex and test her range of movement with an appreciative purr.

“Does it fit?” She asked without meaning to. Adora felt like her eyes had been open for way too long and she blinked, confused.

“It’s perfect.” Catra said with a personal little smile, and slipped her white grip-glove over a clawed hand. 

Adora followed her out into the wilderness, trying not to watch the fetching gold insignia as it fluttered against Catra’s legs.

\---

They’d snagged two suspiciously easy-to-shoot hares, a very docile quail and a small domesticated farm hen (two days walk from the closest settlement, how about that) before they turned back to the villa for dinner. 

Adora tugged Catra under her arm for a wet, happy kiss that she grinned into and they walked like that, cuddling and kissing all the way back to the grotto. Adora felt every inch of where Catra pressed against her, knew her scent in her bones. She felt pliant, and hot under the skin when she tugged Catra in for another one that was slower and wetter than before. 

The embrace got tighter, and Catra slung their game over her shoulder before tugging Adora back into something feral and open-mouthed. 

Her back hit a tree at some point, her ponytail uncomfortable where it pushed against her skull but oh god she didn’t care at all. A lean thigh was shoved between her legs and she ground down against it, groaning into the treetops as Catra ran the edge of her teeth against her throat. 

Adora willed her hands to stop being useless and they slipped up under Catra’s top, dragging dry fingertips across her nipples and watching, fascinated, as Catra’s chest heaved against the quiver’s strap. 

It was quite possibly the most arousing thing Adora had ever goddamn seen and she brought her hand out to frame Catra’s face for a bruising, controlling kiss. 

“You’re perfect,” Adora slurred, and Catra freezed against her.

She pulled back, worried and expecting panic but Catra just seemed a little sheepish and guarded.

“Are you ok?” Adora asked, thumb stroking over a soft cheek.

“You know I have like, four dead things on my back.” Catra said with a smile, leaning into the hands. She seemed fine, but Adora was incredibly dismayed to see the hotness, the wetness from before had disappeared.

“You can put them on the ground?” Adora suggested hopefully, a bit desperate, but Catra just laughed and slung an arm around her waist, tugging them home.

\---

Catra had surrendered all but one of the game to the house’s larder when they made it back inside, slinging a rust-colored hare over her other shoulder.

They had tried to prepare it themselves but the villa seemed to sulk, jamming drawers and blunting knives until Adora had shoved the lot into the pantry and thrown her hands up. It obviously wanted to prepare dinner itself.

“Fine! Be that way!” She called out, ignoring the petulant door as it swung and clipped her on the butt as she walked back.

They were shooed out of the larder and into the main living room where Adora noticed that, while they were gone the villa had made a modest amount of progress towards patching the roof. 

A lot had improved in the weeks they had been there. It wasn’t just an empty room anymore; two doorways had appeared leading to a water-closet and a bath. A central fire pit glowed gold in the middle of the room and kept everything pleasantly warm all day. The walls and floors had scrubbed themselves to a polish and the white marble gleamed, sheathed in gold and blue tapestries and rugs. The soft lumps in the middle that had once been their living room had been completely transformed into a luxurious looking lounge, completely draped in a half dozen blankets and pillows in Mara’s colours. 

Outside the place was unrecognizable; the courtyard was completely remade and shone opalescent in the sunlight. The white casing of the villa was whole and seamless, and the whole thing looked like a castle from the clouds.

Catra startled her from her musings by pulling the hare out in front of her and inspecting it with shrewd eyes.

“What are you gonna do with that?” Adora asked, so amused at the sight of Catra pedantically inspecting her kill she forgot the embarrassment from earlier.

“Gonna make a pelt for the hallway,” Catra murmured, “I might hang it up next to a tapestry. Y’know, help decorate.”

Adora felt her mind wipe and her mouth go dry, breath heaving out of her in one big blow like someone had kicked her in the gut. Around her the house thrummed with a fast kind of energy.

In the corner, the last of the roof patched itself over in a rush.

Catra’s eyes widened and she raised an eyebrow at Adora.

“Welp, gonna miss that sunlight.” She mused.

Over the centre of the living room an ocularum opened overhead, skylight spiraling open in a rush. A bird landed on the edge, and chirped cheerily at them from their perch.

“Okaaaay…” Catra said under her breath. Adora let out a pathetic little wheeze.

Catra eyed her, then the skylight, and calmly walked to the bathroom with her skinning knife without looking back.

Adora sunk to the floor and pressed the heels of her palms hard into her eyelids. A tapestry nudged her shoulder, almost consoling.

“Yeah bud, I know.” She whispered.

\---

The pelt was hung on the wall next to the larder, but it appeared proudly displayed the next day hanging over the front door. It had been oiled and brushed overnight, and seemed to draw light in a deliberate way.

Catra seemed embarrassed, but pleased, and ran a fond finger down one of the tapestries before she went out to scout the woods.

The problem arose later, when Adora leaned over and got a whiff of Catra’s shirt, which she had been wearing for days.

“You stink.” She laughed, and giggled some more when Catra pounced on her. By the end they were both disgusting and smiling fondly at each other from the floor.

Adora reached out to hold her hand, and brushed a thumb across soft knuckles in the midday sun of their skylight. They got up eventually, committed to washing their clothes in the bathtub like they usually did, but when they tried the door to the bathroom it opened up onto a closet instead. 

A row of pressed white garments were hanging up in front of them. Gold and white with blue accents, skirts and leggings and gloves that would no doubt fit them both perfectly.

Catra cackled and reached for a fitted half-jacket that seemed to be made for her, but Adora felt cold dread settle in her stomach. She snapped a hand out and caught Catra’s wrist.

“You can’t.” She blurted, and avoided Catra’s eyes when they sought hers out.

“What, why?” She asked, clearly confused.

“You just…. You can’t. The villa- it… it shouldn’t be doing this, it’s presuming...” She stumbled, feeling embarrassed. Catra stopped looking confused and started looking annoyed.

“Adora, what’s going on?”

“Nothing.” She said, too fast. Adora winced when Catra’s eyes narrowed. 

“What happens if I wear this?” She was speaking slowly, calmly, like she would to a spooked horse.

Adora was quiet and beseeched her with pleading eyes.

“You said it was presuming. What’s the presumption?” Catra asked again.

Adora swallowed.

“I don’t know.” She said, but it was a lie and Catra knew it too. She narrowed her eyes and snatched her hand back, walking fast out the door and into the daylight. 

Adora let out a guttural sigh and turned back to the closet, reaching out to fist the embroidered jacket and feel the fabric between her fingers.

\----

Things were tense after that. They fought. A lot. Everything from petty squabbles over chores to roaring, spitting fights over _secret-keeping, really Adora that’s always worked out so well for us._ And the old hurt is so sudden and shocking that the anger is almost good when she throws it back with _you’ve never let anything go, have you?!_

They fight for days and Catra drags her bedroll over to the other side of the room. Adora negotiates with the villa for a second bathroom just so she doesn’t have to _see_ Catra towel-dry her hair when she goes to brush her teeth.

The villa seems to wilt, and plies Catra with constant gifts like it’s scared she’ll leave. Her pillows are always plumped, the greenery in the living room perks up and preens when she’s nearby. It’s like she can’t see it though, eyes fixed on some unknown point ahead of her whenever she’s in the same room.

For some reason that just makes Adora _more_ angry.

It peaks with an argument about the horses, of all things. Before she’s really registering what she’s doing Adora has her crossbow off the wall, storming through the front door with the bitten-off words ‘ _I’m going out for a bit.’_

She’s about fifty paces from the house before she realises what she’s done and she curses to herself, taking off at a sprint back through the front door.

Catra is curled up tight on Adora’s bedroll, shoulders shaking and Adora drops like a sack of stones to her side. She scoops her up into strong arms and Catra wraps her arms and legs around her, face pressed into Adora’s neck and hiccupping sobs. 

“Oh darling I’m so sorry, I’d never leave. I didn’t mean it sweetheart I promise.” Adora croons, cradling Catra’s head.

Her love is sobbing something, chest heaving too fast to be understandable, but Adora understands what the tight grip of nails against her back means even without words.

“My love, my darling, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay with you for as long as you’ll have me.” 

The words feel like a promise and sooth something in Adora she didn’t know needed soothing. 

When Catra has calmed a little Adora pulls back and plants soft, lingering kisses on her face and the corners of her mouth.

Catra responds a little, but it’s not passion Adora is aiming for right now and eventually they’re both gentled by the slow kissing, eyes drifting shut. Adora lays them both down onto the bedroll where they fit together like missing pieces.

When she snaps a finger a blanket makes its way into her hands and she tucks them in.

Catra falls asleep nestled against her breast and Adora follows shortly after.

\----

Things aren’t fixed after that, you can’t fix something by distracting yourself with something else, but the hostility is gone and they’re both gentler with each other now.

They focus on the remodeling with a new fervor. There’s a dining room now, a luxurious thing with no roof and a swirling galaxy hanging overhead, if a bit dusty. Compared to everything else it’s not something they’ve _needed,_ and Adora eventually sighs with understanding while the two of them puzzle it out.

“It’s for guests.” She says, eyeing Catra who stares back unknowingly.

Adora groans and scrubs her hands over her face

“For _later_ ,” She emphasizes, “When we move in permanently.”

“Ah.” Catra says, and turns back to look at the room.

There’s a beat, then;

“It’s not a _terrible_ idea.” She says blithely.

“It’s _very cheeky._ ” Adora replies, more to the roof than to Catra, but she doesn’t disagree.

Future accommodation aside they get to work on cleaning the dining room regardless. The chairs seem to stand taller when they’ve been given a wipe-down and the table really does look good after Catra waxes it. They think they’ve finished before they turn back around and spot the racks of dusty silverware sitting hopefully by the door.

Catra groans, but picks up her rag.

“You get the dishes, I’ll get the cutlery.”

And it continues on like that towards the end of their third week. Cleaning out the dining room leads to the discovery of a tiny study, which becomes a very big study once dusted, then they notice a door to a drawing room and it’s at this point Catra laughs.

“What kind of rich snob _was_ Mara? Who owns a _drawing room_?” She says, gesturing madly.

“We do, now." Adora says with a grin, and Catra bursts out with fresh laughter that only gets louder when Adora lifts her up and plops her onto the game table.

Then the laughter dies when Catra feels Adora drag fingers along the outside of her thighs and pull her in until they’re snug together, so close they could-

Catra grinds against her, just a little, but it’s enough that Adora makes a _wretched_ sound and reaches up to fumble with the stupidly high collar of Catra’s shirt, leaning in to mouth hotly at the exposed skin.

And the table is a perfect height, but it’s ancient and rocks a little and they both wince a little at the sound of the tabletop rattling around.

“Why don’t we have a fucking bedroom- _oh-_ yet, anyways? At this point we’re gonna have a room for everything _but_ sleeping” Catra murmurs to herself, and Adora snorts.

“S’not appropriate or somethin’” She breathes against dark skin, eyeing the way it curves back towards the ear.

“Huh?” Catra asks, pushing her a little.

“Y’know,” Adora says, pulling back reluctantly, “cos’ we’re not married n’ stuff.”

There’s a moment where Adora thinks she doesn’t understand, then her face pulls into a look of such abject horror that Adora actually startles back.

“Oh my god, I’m _defiling_ you!” 

“ _WHAT?!_ No!” 

“Your _house_ thinks I am!” Catra yells, gesturing wildly at the musty old room.

“Oh it’s _my_ house now?” 

“How the fuck else do you know this shit, Adora? Obviously it’s your house!” Catra is running her hands through her hair, eyes blown wide.

Adora tangles her own hands in her hair, annoyed as hell.

“ _We can still have sex!”_ She bleats pathetically.

“You don’t have to do that for me!” 

Adora felt lost now, completely unable to grasp how they got to this point.

“I’m not doing it _for you_ \- well, I mean I am but-” 

Catra scoffed, “Oh please, the virginal lamb of the First Ones? Of course you’d do something so self-sacrificing.”

Adora felt her jaw drop. “What the _fuck_ , Catra?!” she yells incredulously.

But Catra just huffs and turns around, storming back out into the living room. Adora stares helplessly at the door for a few minutes before following her.

Catra paces next to their bedrolls, still in the middle of the floor where they had dropped them that first night.

“I’ve been _trying_ Adora, I really have,” She rants, kicking stray pillows out of her way. “I told you I’d change for you and I’ve _tried_ . I’ve watched how your friends do it, I’ve been patient and shit, but this is _not_ fair.

It takes Adora a second to clue in, but when she does she’s furious. “You’re doing this for _my_ benefit?!”

“Of course!” Catra snaps, finally stopping the pacing. “You deserve this shit! The sugary stuff and the marriage whatevers, I’m trying to be that for you!”

“That’s not who I am, Catra.” She says, coldly angry.

“But it is! It absolutely is! It’s everything you do, and who you surround yourself with!” Catra’s eyes are wild and her hands are gesturing, pleading. “I’m trying to fit into your world, Adora!”

“Oh for-” Adora grits her teeth, “We are _not_ Glimmer and Bow!”

“Look around you, honey! Your **_mansion_** won’t let you **_have sex_** until **_you’re married_** _!”_ She looks like she’s about to cry, and Adora is _so angry_ at everything it kills her “How am I supposed to fit in with this?! I’m not perfect!”

“I’m not perfect either! You don’t know that part of me!” 

“Well.” Catra bites, anger in her wet eyes, “It’s not like you’ll let me _learn._ You never let me in. I don’t know what your world looks like anymore.”

And that’s really the last straw, because Adora slams her hand on the wall behind with a _crack_ and sees Catra startle at the magic that shoots along the wall and into the floor.

Adora walks towards her, eyes fizzing with the electric blue of power and Catra takes one step _back_.

“You _dare!_ ” She roars, voice inhumanly loud “You come to my domain! You hang your prizes on _my_ mantle!” Step, step, step, “You ask to wear my colors and share my chamber! You know nothing of what you ask for, woman!”

Catra’s eyes flick over every inch of her, and Adora thinks _good._

Adora flicks her hand and the room shifts, the living room rises first, lifting up like a daias. Silver-gold columns shoot from the floor and wrap around each other, forming a delicate gazebo around them both. Above, the skylight stretches and expands and the room below seems to give away, turquoise butterflies shoot from the abyss and float around their little domain.

The world shrinks to a pinpoint around them, reality slipping away. Adora feels herself, huge and impossible and _gold_ , nothing like She-ra anymore. She’s something else, something bigger and more terrifying. 

“I hold the magic _for you!_ This world now bends _for you_! And when I carry it into the stars and the far corners of this miserable little universe,” She sneers, “there will not be a single star, a single drop of rain that does not _love you like I do!”_

There’s silence and Catra _stares_ into Adora’s unblinking eyes, watching the thrum of magic move through her, into _everything._

“Adora,” She whispers, out of breath, “that’s super fucked up.”

It’s enough to startle a laugh out of her, and the room shifts back. The daias sinks into the floor and the butterflies dissolve. Only the gazebo remains, still curled around them.

“You’re right, oh my god, I’m so sorry.” she wheezes, but they’re both laughing now, rocking forward into a hug that feels second nature. 

“You never said anything,” Catra murmurs.

“Catra,” Adora giggles, “it’s a _lot._ ”

Adora kisses her, smiling, and Catra kisses back.

“I love you” Adora says.

“Will you marry me?” Catra says back.

They freeze again. Adora moves her head back to eye Catra warily, “You know you don’t actually have to do that to have sex with me, right?”

Catra laughs, “Well _now_ I do.” She tucks a stray hair behind Adora’s ear, “Just got me thinking, is all, we’re perfect for each other and all that.” 

Love like this has never existed before, Adora would know because it feels like the universe is trying to squeeze itself into her chest. This stupid, mouthy girl with her messy hair and half her pants on.

She will give Catra everything she’s ever wanted, she knows that now. It’s just as terrifying a thought when she had first felt it years ago, holding her hand in a dark corridor and wishing the two of them could run away together.

She doesn’t know how to say that, it’s tangled in a mess in her throat.

“Yes” Adora croaks instead. The house around them seems to swell, banners burst from every corner in white and gold, and red and black. Vines and trellis of gold explode with color around them, framing them in its beauty.

Catra is the one giggling now, a sound Adora almost never gets to hear. Her eyes aren’t wet anymore; she’s crying.

“You’re so dramatic.” Catra breathes, watching the villa come alive, before meeting Adora in a fierce kiss.

There’s nothing gentle about the way Catra tears her sweater in two, or the way Adora yanks Catra’s belts down, and Adora thinks that gentleness can wait for their wedding night because right now it’s not what either of them want.

When they’re naked and writhing against each other and Adora thinks _oh god, finally_ , Catra drags sharp claws against her ribcage and Adora hisses, fisting her hand into short hair and tugging.

Catra moves down to take a nipple between her teeth and slips two fingers down, pressing. Adora bucks into the feeling with a yelp, but Catra holds her hip down with her other hand just to be a bitch.

And it feels like she’s down there for ages, drawing it out and sucking bruises under Adora’s breasts. Stopping and starting, speeding up and slowing down. Finally, finally, _finally._ Adora starts to curse and buck harder now, coming with a sob that almost hurts. Catra laughs, moving her fingers away to wipe them on Adora’s hip. 

“Can you do me?” Catra asks, cocky sure. Adora says something along the lines of _yeah that should be fine_ , but much less coherent.

Catra snickers, moving her way up over Adora’s face but startles when Adora steadies her hips and _lifts_.

“Oh fuck, oh shit, _Adora.”_ Catra scrabbles for balance when Adora lifts her, hands in blonde hair with a death grip. But Adora isn’t going to drop her, she’s very strong, and Catra groans with that realisation as Adora runs the flat of her tongue completely over her.

It doesn’t take long, Adora is gratified to realise, before Catra is completely undone in her arms. She writhes in Adora’s strong grip, but never holds back, coming with a cry that leaves Adora’s ears ringing with _mine, mine, mine._

Catra is lowered to the floor and Adora tucks them both exhausted into their blankets. They curl together, slotted perfectly against one another.

“You didn’t get me a ring,” Adora whispers, feeling very lovey-dovey at the moment.

Catra groans, “Oh shit, you’re right. Glitter is going to kill me.”

Adora laughs, naked joy in her voice and in the air, shimmering in the water outside and whistling through the trees. 

“I love you” She says, with the moon and the grass, the birds and their house, tucked away in their grotto. The universe will say it, eventually, fucked-up or not.

“I love you, too,” Catra says, and it’s perfect.


End file.
